This invention relates to a multipurpose container which is particularly suitable for containing "threaded wires" and corresponding washers, of different sizes and characteristics, of the type used in orthopaedic surgery.
As is known from German patent application No. P 4309707, threaded wires are an improvement on the Kirschner wires used in orthopaedic surgery to secure bone fragments to the main bone or to reconstruct broken small bones. The threaded wires are not completely smooth (like the Kirschner wires), but their ends which penetrate the bone are threaded with a thread diameter which is less than the diameter of the remaining cylindrical shank of the wire, so as to form a step at the point where the threaded part joins the smooth part. This step serves to apply a compression force against the bone fragment towards the part of the bone from which the said fragment has become detached, when the threaded wire is screwed up. In some cases the thrust surface provided by this step is not sufficient, or the pressure exerted locally on the fragment is too high and might damage it. In these circumstances the use of special washers is provided for, the threaded part is threaded through them and they come up against the said step they enlarge the area on the said fragment supporting the threaded wire.
Threaded wires of different diameter and different wire diameters are used according to the characteristics and size of the bone fragments and the bones from which the fragments have become detached, for example wires with a diameter of .phi. 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm or 3.0 mm, with corresponding thread diameters .phi. 1.2 mm, 1.6 mm or 2.2 mm, and different lengths of the threaded part, for example 7 mm, 9 mm, 11 mm, 13 mm, 15 mm, 17 mm, 19 mm and 21 mm for wires with threads of diameter .phi. 1.2; 11 mm, 13 mm, 15 mm, 17 mm, 19 mm, 21 mm, 23 mm, 25 mm, 30 mm, 35 mm, 40 mm and 45 mm for wires with threads of .phi. 1.6; and 20 mm, 25 mm, 30 mm, 35 mm, 40 mm, 45 mm, 50 mm and 55 mm for wires with threads of .phi. 2.2.
Containers for bone bolts or bolts which separate bolts or bolts of different diameters and lengths are known, but these containers have the following disadvantage. If bolts or bolts of a different size than that for the specified position in the container are placed in it in error, the surgeon or the personnel responsible for passing tools to the surgeon may be misled and therefore use a bolt/screw which is slightly different from that required, or, if the differences are clearly visible, be forced to put the incorrect bolt/screw back in the container and take another, in the hope that the second will be the desired one. In the special case of threaded wires, in addition to having different diameters, they also have a wide range of lengths of the threaded portion which often differ from each other by only one or two millimeters. Obviously it would be very useful for the surgeon or the personnel responsible for passing tools to the surgeon to check the size of the threaded wire immediately and thus to be sure of the size of threaded wire which they have in their hands.
GB-A-O-692 103 discloses a multipurpose container with a substantially rectangular base, a central body removably secured to said base and a lid, whereby the body is subdivided into a plurality of separate spaces. This container is suitable for containing a plurality of threaded wires so that the ends thereof project above the body and its lid is capable of covering the projecting ends of the threaded wires.